Nicole Pelliccia, 2023

Nicole graduated with a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2015 and a Masters in Systems Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2021. She spent the first 7 years of her career at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics - Skunkworks, rotating through Design, Manufacturing, and eventually Software as part of the Engineering Leadership Development Program. She has a passion for traveling and spent a 6-month sabbatical in Argentina in 2022 before transitioning into the Tech Industry. Nicole now lives and works in San Francisco as a DevOps Program Manager at Atlassian. 

In her senior year at Virginia Tech, she saw the need to strengthen student-alumni relations. So she shared an idea for the AOE Alumni Mentoring Program (AMP) to Dr. Raj, who helped pitch it to Dr. Paterson, the AOE Department Head at the time. After graduation, when she hadn't heard any updates from Dr. Paterson on the program, she flew from Texas, where she was living at the time, to Blacksburg and showed up at Dr. Paterson's house (thanks to a tip from Dr. Artis that Dr. Paterson was throwing a barbecue that day). Nicole had a whole speech prepared on why she should implement and run the mentoring program, but before she could say anything, Dr. Paterson suggested the same thing. As a result, Nicole joined the Advisory Board as the young-alumni member (she is now just a regular member as Bob Hanley likes to point out), and with the support of the Advisory Board and Jama Green, she has run the Alumni Mentoring Program since its inception in 2015. The program has connected hundreds of AOE students to alumni in the industry, enabling students to make more informed decisions regarding career and life choices.

Nicole's passion for the AOE Alumni Mentoring Program is deeply personal; after failing half her classes her sophomore year, this is a program she needed as a student but didn't have, which is why she is so dedicated to creating it for others and living the Ut Prosim motto.